


What the Riddler Told Him

by gothamvillains



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arkham Asylum, Canon Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Hallucinations, Love Confessions, M/M, post-4x11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 14:52:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13169253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gothamvillains/pseuds/gothamvillains
Summary: Edward contemplates why his counterpart accused him of being in love with Lee and realizes the true reason he doesn’t want to become the Riddler again.





	What the Riddler Told Him

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy!

* * *

“ _You’re in love with Lee Thompkins, you pathetic loser!_ ”

The accusation banged around inside of his head like a bullet ricocheting off walls: wild, unstable, and set on a collision course to destroy everything in its path. The room began spinning around him, reality distorting and melting into a delusion he couldn’t quite seem to shake, but it wasn’t true, even if only half of him knew it.

“Y-You’re wrong. You’re trying to trick me. You’re trying to get me to self-sabotage our partnership so that there’s no longer anything left to keep me from going back to you.”

“And what’s so wrong with that?” The mirror asked, lips curling upwards with the smugness of a conman who knew the game was rigged in his favor. “Face it, Ed; I am your _fate_.”

“Shut up…”

“There’s no escaping it, and I don’t know why you’d want to just for the sake of some one-sided crush—“

“SHUT UP!” Edward roared, slamming his hands down onto the table with a force that nearly sent the glass on top of it crashing to the ground below. “I-I don’t love Dr. Thompkins.”

“Then tell me, Ed… _Why am I here_?”

 

* * *

  

Arkham Asylum. There were nothing but nightmarish memories surrounding the place for him, and, yet, lingering amongst the other visitors, Edward felt lighter than he’d ever been before. He sighed, trying to shake out all of the nerves coursing through his body. He knew what he was going to say, and he had no doubt in his mind that it was nothing less than genuine; all that was left for him to do now was to sit and wait for—

“Oswald!”

The man in question came around on the other side of the glass, face seeming less than thrilled and wearing its trademark look of irritation like a badge.

“What, are you here to gloat at my misfortune? I must say, Ed, I had thought you would be above something this pathetic and petty. But I suppose you have to take the small victories wherever you can get them these days, don’t you?”

“If you’re referring to the effects from the ice, my brain’s working just fine again. I’ve been receiving help from Dr. Thompkins.”

Oswald leaned back in his chair, eyebrows raising as he forced a coy smile. “Well then, bully for you; glad to hear the city has it’s resident smartass back. Are we done here?”

“Actually, Oswald, there was something I was hoping we could discuss.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“It’s just… I’ve been struggling lately with these conflicting voices inside of my head. One tells me not to let go and to hold on to this new home that I’ve found, but the other says to embrace my path and return to who I was. I’ve been resisting that second voice as hard I can, but I’ve had no idea why up until this morning. See, I _enjoyed_ being the Riddler: the spotlight, the recognition. There shouldn’t be this battle anymore like there was when I still thought I could lead a normal life away from villainy, and that second voice thought that the only possible explanation was I had fallen in love with Lee Thompkins.”

“Have you?”

“No. Lee’s my _friend_. And it’s true that part of the reason why I’m pushing away the Riddler is because I don’t want to disappoint her, but I knew that there was more to it than that.”

“And whatever this ‘more’ is that you discovered earlier warranted coming to me and babbling on because…?”

“The voice was right about me being in love. It just had the wrong person.”

All at once, a shift seemed to occur within the tension of the room, and Oswald’s face softened into an expression which Edward wagered probably wasn’t too far off from the one he’d made himself when being blasted by an icy gust of air on the docks. His eyes were widened, filled with a hopefulness that he was desperately trying to keep from jumping to conclusions too quickly, and it was then that Edward knew he had passed the point of no return, the only option left to soldier on and spill out all of the emotions that’d been building up inside of him for months despite the fact that his mind had suddenly gone blank.

“I-I’ve never been too good with words,” he admitted.

“Modesty doesn’t suit you, Ed.”

“Right. Rodger. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’ve spent a large part of my life very much alone, Oswald, and an even larger part doing whatever it took to become the kind of person that other people like, but you made me feel as though, even if I never made another friend again, I would still die feeling happier than I ever could’ve imagined. After I shot you, there was nothing left but this hollow emptiness that seemed to consume me whole, and it kept on reminding me what a mistake I had made. I was just so used to being unloved that I hadn’t been able to accept the fact that, for once, there was someone out there who truly cared about me. My journey as the Riddler began the moment I let go of you for good and shut off all of my emotions to no longer have to feel the pain that I felt when you were gone, so maybe this resistance I feel now is because I don’t want to have to go through life without you again. Because a life without you is puerile.”

“Puerile?”

“ _Pointless_. And I don’t expect anything to come out of this or for you to reciprocate anymore—not after everything that’s happened—I just wanted to thank you for being the only person who ever cared. It means more to me than I could put into words. I _love_ you, Oswald, and I felt like I’d be doing a disservice to us both if I didn’t tell you at least once. _So_ … That’s all then,” he mumbled, running shaking fingers through his hair as he tried to wind his adrenaline down. He gave a curt nod as he got up and pushed his chair out from behind him, suddenly becoming very much aware of the fact that this could end up being the last time they’d ever see each other. Then again, they’d had plenty of what he’d assumed were “last times” before in the past, and none of them ever seemed to stick.

“Ed? Ed, wait!”

He craned his neck around to see that Oswald had risen from his seat as well and was standing with his palm against the divider like he was as holding onto it for dear life. Hesitant, Edward walked forward, timidly raising his own hand and setting it directly over where Oswald’s was while the glass seemed to disappear between them and leave nothing in its wake to separate the feel of their touches connecting.

Oswald felt millions of thoughts run through his mind within that single instant—regret, forgiveness, how he had talked to Ed every day he was frozen, and how he had thought of him every one since—but their time was running out, and, besides, leaving things unsaid only meant that there’d be more to tell the next time they reunited. So, instead, he just locked eyes with his greatest enemy, enjoying the moment as it made all other thoughts of gang wars and Falcones and Arkham disappear into non existence while his lips mouthed four quick words, unmistakable despite the effect of their silence.

_I love you too._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this!
> 
> Please feel free to comment with any suggestions, critiques, notes, etc., or you can reach me on Tumblr @/gothamvillains.


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